For certain devices it is necessary to limit the life time of the device, although the devices might still be operable. This is in particular the case when the proper functioning of a device is mandatory for the physical integrity of the user of the very device, for example. This is especially the case for medical devices, since the correctness of the presented or evaluated data by the device or the dose of a certain drug administered by the device is in many cases mandatory for the health of the patient. Thus, devices which cannot be permanently checked or inspected can be deactivated after a fixed amount of time to prevent major malfunctions. For instance, it is known from the state of the art to use the elapsed time since the first use of a medical device to limit the lifetime of the medical device by disabling the device after the elapsed time since the first use has reached a certain limit.
In this way, it is achieved that in many cases any serious errors due to unavoidable wear in form of material fatigue, for example, are prevented from appearing in the first place.